Customer Reviews

LeapFrog Leapster 2 Learning Game System - Green

5 star:		(185)
4 star:		(79)
3 star:		(42)
2 star:		(30)
1 star:		(59)

 

 

** Note: When reading this review, please understand that we were an "early adopter" of the Leapster2 Game System, and certain issues impacted our opinion. By now (06/10) Leapster has likely dealt with some of the intitial issues and difficulties we experienced, and those may no-longer be a concern for new buyers. The price has dropped considerably, which does increase the attractiveness of the system.

Without a doubt, the Leapster2 is a nice, stylish game system that is age-appropriate for young children. It is easy to handle and, for the most part, easy to use. The games available include many popular titles (Cars, Backyardigans, Disney Princesses, Dora, Thomas, etc.).

But that's where the fun stops. The difference between the Leapster2 and the original Leapster is that the Leapster2 was designed to work with the "LeapFrog Learning Path" program, which allows you to see the progress your child has made in learning various subjects and concepts. That was promised in early August, then delayed and announced it would be ready by August 21st. On August 22nd, LeapFrog announced that Learning Path has now been delayed and will launch in "mid-September".

Until the Learning Path becomes active, the online "downloadable" games that are touted will not function and are not available. The ability to see the progress your child makes is not available. There are issues with the Leapster2 "freezing up" which was supposed to be fixed with a software update. If you plug in an SD card so your child can save pictures he/she has colored, they can not save them because that feature "will become active when the downloadable games are available".

We purchased TWO Leapster2 game systems (one pink, one green) from Amazon at $70/each. We also purchased TWO game cases at $15/each, and 3-4 game titles. While the kids are still able to enjoy them to some extent, I can't help but to feel I was sold something that was high on promise but VERY VERY short on delivery. I am very disappointed in LeapFrog in how they have handled this product launch, as I have come to expect better from them.

Update 01/12/09:
After 6 months of use, our Leapster2 is FINALLY functioning the way we had hoped and expected. While the pink Leapster2 functioned well, we had issues with the "Leapster Connect" software recognizing the two Leapster2's that we had purchased. After working with a Leapster support rep (Bill), who was VERY helpful and patient, it was determined that the issue was related to the SD card in our green Leapster2, even though the card functioned for all other uses. Leapster sent us a pre-formatted 128Mb card with the two downloadable games (those were not available until sometime in September/October). Upon installing the new card, everything functioned better.

As for the "LeapFrog Learning Path" website... now that it is finally online and functional, it's really helpful for seeing how much time your child is spending playing the games. It also gives you a decent idea of how they are doing with certain skills, though it would be nice if it identify your child's weaknesses and recommend things to work on. One caveat is that the time-spent is cumulative, based upon when you last uploaded the data. So although it does accumulate play data for a while, you should plug it in weekly if you want to know how much time s/he is playing on a weekly basis (otherwise, you'll get something like 12 hours for one week).

After 6 months and several updates and headaches, I would change my review to 4 stars if I could. However, I am still disappointed that Leapster released a product that was so clearly not ready for market. It appears they have corrected some issues, but still have other issues outstanding. The game systems HAS proven durable, though I would recommend screen protectors to keep the screen from getting scratched, and highly recommend the LeapFrog® Leapster®2 Learning Game Case if your child plans to travel with his/her Leapster2, and the LeapFrog® Leapster®2 Recharging Station if your child uses it often (batteries are expensive!!).

Update 10/28/09 (final update):
After a litte over a year of use, the Leapster 2's that we purchased are holding up. Though we still get some quirky freeze-ups every now and then, we've not had any additional major issues. My son has actually kicked his around quite a bit, and for the most part it has (physically) held up well. I continue to think that we should have purchased some screen protectors, because it slides around on the floorboard of the van as often as it spends in its case. All things considered, even after the introduction of the online "Learning Path", we have not been diligent about uploading the data. Yes, it gives you SOME basic overview on how your child is progressing with certain skills, but it's not something most people wouldn't identify on their own. We have not been inspired to purchase a ton of games for this, but the LeapFrog® Leapster®2 Recharging Station turned out to be a wise purchase. It has probably paid for itself in batteries, and my 5yr-old son can charge it on his own. My daughter, who is now in first grade, actually gets the least amount of use from her Leapster. Of course, the $45 that Amazon is now listing it for is nearly half what we paid for ours! So at that price, it would still be worth it. But she is quickly "growing out" of her Leapster, and is eyeballing the Nintendo DS. She still plays with it on road trips, but it's not a regular play thing for her. My son absolutely LOVES his LeapFrog® Leapster® Learning Game: Cars and LeapFrog® Leapster® Learning Game: Wall-E games. In fact, these games have kept him so entertained that we have not felt the need to buy additional games. Perhaps if there were some title that were geared toward older kids (High School Musical?), my daughter would remain as engaged.

We owned a Leapter L-Max that quit working due to an "accident." Because our 3 year old has loved and used that machine several times a day we had to replace it. He had learned so much from the previous Leapster and the reviews of the V-Smile were poor, so we decided to go with another Leapster. While we did go back and forth about whether we wanted another L-Max for the TV play capability or whether we wanted the online funcitonality of this new Leapster 2. We had to put some thought into which feature, the TV or online, we would use most. We decided that we would really like the ability to track learning progress on line and that for $10 less, we would rather have that function. We also decided to look for a Leapster TV system, which we found on clearance, to replace the TV play capability of the old L-Max, so he could still use all the games on the TV and yet have 2 seperate toys and develop the motor skills of the 2 systems instead of one. This new Leapster is SO cute. The colors are great, the shape is better than the old ones, in my opinion. The stylus pen is secured by a thin fabric like cord rather than a heavy electronics cord, so it is easier to maneuver and it doesn't seem like it will break as easily. The sound is better and the screen is just as nice, if not better. We are very happy with this purchase, and our son likes it too. We have not tried the other games yet, but his old ones work just fine, as they are supposed to. I would defintitely recommend this model. I will also update the review when I have used the online functions.

We just got this new version of the Leapster to replace the old Leapster which had started malfunctioning due to grime. The durability of the old Leapster was mediocre, since grime caused it to significantly malfunction after 8 months of daily use. Be sure to get a protective case for when the Leapster is not in use -- that's the lesson we learned the hard way. However, I suggest buying a cheaper case than the one sold for the Leapster (for example: I bought one for half the price that I found in the camera and computer accessories section at Walmart, that was marketed for small portable hard drives, and had the same dimensions as the Leapster).

Leapster 2 is a good new edition. One can download additional free games from the Internet for it for example (a couple of games are now finally available for download, so the initial deployment issue has been resolved). You need to buy an SD card for this to work. Even though the manufacturer recommends 256 MB SD card or less, we bought one with 1 GB and it works well (256 MB cards are harder to get nowadays).

We like that the built-in games stay available in Leapster 2, even when a game cartridge is inserted (an improvement over the original Leapster). The design of the hardware is sleeker looking, as well.

Overall, a very good product, and one of our son's favorite toys by far (he plays it daily in the car, and during wait-times, such as when waiting for the food to arrive at a restaurant). Our son is 2 years and 8 months by the way, and he had the original Leapster since he was 2 years old. He is a smart boy, but I assume not a genius, so the manufacturer's minimum recommended age is quite a bit off.

I bought this for my 4 year old son a week ago and so far we are really disappointed. I did a lot of research and chose the leapster 2 for my youngest son. I should let you know that my family is very electronic oriented. Both my children have been playing games for several years on the internet and both have had leapster type reading books as well as some simple hand held games. WE also own a Wii that both kids absolutely love. here is my rundown of the good and the bad:

the bad:
* upon turning on the device we are greeted with a Siezure warning. We have to sit through this every single time we open it up. Grrrrr.
* the preinstalled games are fun and exciting - for about 5 minutes. My son actually gave me the device to play with after he got bored with the games. This was upsetting since I really wanted him to enjoy the machine. The story line to the games are not very engaging and some games are too difficult technically. I actually played the rocket game and had a hard time trying to keep up - the idea of the game is similar to space invaders but the controls move so slowly that it is impossible to destroy the numbered rocks in a timely manner to go to the next number. Also, during play an announcement for the next number is hard to hear because of the blast in the background. I end up losing a spaceship because of this.
* I plugged the device into my computer to access the features online. Fortunately (not really) it was late and I had 30 minutes to spare for the two times my (very modern) computer locked up. The next day I tried to navigate the website to track my sons' progress and to download any rewards he may have won. Somebody shoot me now.... that experience was absolute torture. It's hard for me to believe that this company with all of it's wisdom could have such a poorly designed sight. I had a difficult time understanding what and where to go to make the thing work. I even looked up instructions on how to delete a player name from the device since our babysitter thought it would be a good idea to put her name in - the website instructed me on the consequences of deleting a name but never told me how to delete the name. Double grrrrr!
* For the pricetag it's disappointing to only get installed games which are not well designed. I am headed to the store to purchase another game cartridge and cross my fingers that the game is a little more engaging for the 30 extra bucks I'm going to spend.
* 4 AA batteries. I can see this being a problem on long trips. just have to make sure there are extra batteries around.
* Accessories - I have to buy more accessories to get comfortable with the device - a charging system is a separate purchase as well as a carrying case. Why couldn't that have come with the device already?
* The display - so far the display output is poor- the details and light strength are not very good quality and leave much to be desired. This is by far the most disappointing issue. The only person that can see the screen clearly is the player so it makes it difficult for me to help my son with some of the games.
* the Stylus pencil - I don't understand why the stylus is used to get into the game and then when you start playing the games you have to dock the stylus and use the controls. I can foresee the stylus as a potential problem as my son has already tried to carry the device with the stylus and lanyard.
* the price - I just feel that for the 70 bucks I paid that I should have gotten a lot more out of this. I think (with the 1 week experience that I have) that 40 dollars would have been fair - 50 dollars would have still had me unhappy.

The good:
* the device seems to be sturdily built. At least that's my assumption since it is quite bulky for my 4 year olds' tiny hands.
* So far there seems to be a good selection of games. But I have to admit my fear that the games may be bad and every new game will cost about 30 dollars each.
* I put a 2gb SD card in and so far not a single problem.


I have a feeling that this device will quickly phase itself out with the boring games and the sub par display. I don't see our family holding on to the device for more than 6 months because so far we are unimpressed. As a matter of fact my 4 year old son has already put the device in storage and I'm trying to salvage my purchase as you read this. I recommend you do more research before you purchase.

I purchased two of these for my kids birthday. They love them but I was dismayed upon opening them to find that I had to make another purchase of an SD memory card to get the full functionality. I hate that, for 70 dollars it should come with everything you need.

So, I finally buy the cards, the smallest cards available in the stores are 1 GB. I put them in, the system doesn't recognize them. The instructions say "Works best with SD cards 256 MB or smaller". Those are only available through mail order around here, for more than I paid for the 1 GB card.

I can't believe a new product would be designed with such a small memory limit. I got burned once before on a leapfrog product (the little touch book for babies, what a waste), vowed to not buy again. Well, the reviews for the leapster were so outstanding I succumbed.

To add insult to injury you can't email the corporate office to complain, their website lists only a snail mail addy. Guess they are getting too many complaints?

Well next time someone asks I'll say buy V-tech.


*** got the card to work, other issues arose. Please see detail in comments.

I have created a fix for anyone to try. I am an IT hardware person and was fed up with waiting for leap frog to fix it so I tried to fix it myself. I have gotten great feedback from this fix so try it out. http://jdrwebnow.net/leapster2_fix.html Any questions or comments email me at jdrhunter@gmail.com

As for the device itself my four year old loves the games and I hear her repeating...reciting what she is getting out of it. I have on occasion turned it on and played the walle game. I do wish the batteries would last longer.

The Leapster2 is a nice alternative to those who do not want to purchase a real video game system. It's look and feel is close enough to a Nintendo DS so that pre-K and early elementary school users will feel like they are interacting with a big kid toy. A child who has access to a DS, Game Cube, or Wii will likely be bored.

The games are fairly simplistic. Skills include identifying numbers, identifying letters, and finding the next step in a sequence. While games have a number of levels, children are neither rewarded nor penalized for their answers. The educational questions are embedded in other activities; therefore, children may ignore the questions and still have a satisfying gaming experience. This negates the value of the parental website which purports to measure the child's success. Without watching the child's interaction, it is impossible to know whether s/he is trying to answer correctly or engaging in alternative play. The parent's web site is most valuable for its feedback on the amount of hours played over the number of sessions per week. This is not an alternative to tutoring for a struggling academic.

Games cost between $25 and $30 a piece, which is not an insignificant investment. The instruction manual encourages parents to purchase an SD card to store games downloaded from the web site. However, according to LeapFrog's customer service representative, there are only two games available for download (both free) and no plans to add more. Given this scenario, the SD card is an unnecessary investment.

LeapFrog has created an acceptable, entry-level gaming system for the youngest audiences. Future versions would be improved by the ability to play music, download additional games, save and share art projects, and a more sophisticated educational approach. Before purchasing the system, parents should consider their goals and the amount of money that they will deem an acceptable investment to achieve them.

We gave the Leapster 2 to our son for Christmas. He got a lot of use out of it for two weeks but then the screen on the game console no longer responded to touch or to the pen. I sent Leapster an email asking them for advice about what to do and, after a week, they have not responded. This game does not seem to stand up to the rigors of a five-year old. I do not recommend this product.

Pretty cool save for the really lame, which is this: it takes ONLY a 256KMB SD card, which can't be found in stores anymore because it costs as much to make one of those as it does to make a 1GB card. Moreover, the Amazon.com review is wrong about being able to download without it, so the free download is a bit bogus. On top of that, nowhere on the packaging does it mention this very key requirement and the resulting restriction on internet downloads. Misrepresentation, to put it mildly. To put it truthfully? Ignorant or Sleazy. Either is unacceptable.

I ordered this for my daughter and gave it to her just in time for a long car trip we're leaving on. She opened the unit, and as she opened each of the 4 games I got to go w/ it, she got more and more excited to play it! Imagine our disappointment when we popped the beloved princesses into the unit, waited 15 minutes for my husband to register it on their website (not optional,) and sat through a ridiculously long series of intro screens that you have to endure EVERY TIME you put a new game in only to find out the stylus really had about 30% functionality. This was last night. She tried to play the games, but as the stylus is garbage, she got very frustrated and gave up on them. This morning we tried again, only to have the stylus not work at all! I call leapfrog to request a refund, with the expectation that this would not be a big deal for a defective unit, and I would go out today and buy one in a store. Now imagine my anger when I get through to leapfrog in India, I'm asked a series of identifying questions, email, phone number, etc. (which I had to keep repeating b/c of the language barrier) before I can even explain the problem. Then I'm told that if I want a refund, I have to ship the unit back, along w/ the headphones that don't work either, at my expense, and that's only after they give me a return authorization number. To get a replacement, I have to write the RAN on the screen in sharpie, take a picture of it, scan the receipt, and send it to my friend in India. I'm not kidding. Why they can't just send a self-addressed envelope or box w/ the new unit is beyond me. I should expect my (hopefully) functioning unit in 10-15 days. So, I'm out of luck for our very long drive. Below is a copy of my instructions for getting a working toy for which I have already paid. Skip this thing, or be prepared for a huge headache and very disappointed child.

We apologize for the inconvenience & for the trouble you are experiencing right now.
Below are the instructions you need to follow in order to receive your product replacement.
You will need to scan & send a copy of the receipt, and also deface the product with the following RMA# xxx Once this is done you can email a photo of the defaced product.
Once we receive this information we will enter it into our system, and process your replacement item to be shipped.
Please note: Once we receive your copy of the receipt, or picture of the defaced product it can take up to 10 to 15 business days for you to receive a replacement item.
Should you need further assistance please let us know.
Thank you.